


Sword Art Online....SternBild Style

by DeamonQueen



Category: Sword Art Online, Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Kotetsu being a badass gamer, MMORPGs, Swordfighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-03-31 18:42:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeamonQueen/pseuds/DeamonQueen
Summary: Kotetsu is a lot more depressed than he lets on about being in the B-Team. It's not so bad though, of course. Why? Because he's found a new hobby, of course! He was one of the 1000 people who go beta-keys for the new NerveGear game, Sword Art Online!!!!And, well, obviously that ends up with him being stuck in the game and unable to log out. And, you know, if he dies in-game, he's dead.





	1. Beta Testers

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I had been lurking in the T&B anon meme sites for a few days now, looking through the wonderful works of talented people and my muse could not stop herself and finally got me to write my own story for this fandom. It's my take on one of the anon's in the site,
> 
> Here's the request for those who want to look: https://t-and-b-anon.dreamwidth.org/4163.html?thread=6693443
> 
> Anyway, I could not stop myself and thus this baby was born. Hope I do it justice...

He had no idea what had prompted him to sign up to be a beta tester of the latest video game in Sternbild. Maybe because he sort of filled the requirements of the beta testers being able to read and understand Japanese. Or maybe because he thought he needed a hobby considering he was still stuck in the second league even after the whole Justice Day debacle. Or perhaps it was because he felt lonely most of the time since he and his " _partner_ " are unable to spend as much time they want together, ever since he convinced him to continue being part of the 1st league heroes. Nevertheless, he signed up and now he was standing in front one of Sternbild's largest buildings, that was the home base for the company of the video game he was about to beta test after receiving an email that he was among the 1000 people that were lucky to be selected.

 

Kotetsu tried to hide his nervousness as he approach the reception desk to ask directions on where the beta testing was about to take place. The woman behind the desk merely smiled at him and pointed him to the elevator and what floor he was suppose to be. He did as he was told and punched the numbers on the floor. As the elevator door shut, Kotetsu heard someone cried out.

 

"Hold the door!!"

 

Immediately, he pushed the pause button for the doors and later a lanky Japanese man, wearing a white shirt and, strangely, a lab coat entered the elevator.

 

"Thanks, sir," the man said in English with his thick Japanese accent.

 

"Uh, your welcome," Kotestu replied, "What floor?"

 

The man looked up to the buttons before answering, "Looks like we're going on the same floor."

 

The doors closed and both men waited for them to arrive to their destination. 

 

Unable to really stop himself, Kotetsu opted to start a conversation with the man.

 

"So you applied to be a beta tester too?" he asked using Japanese this time to level with the guy a bit.

 

The man merely stared at him, before saying, "Not really. You?"

 

"Yeah, I sort of applied for it and ended up getting selected to test the game."

 

"You don't sound excited? Most gamers would feel that it was an honor to be able to get a chance to try a game before they came on sale."

 

"Well, I guess I can understand that gamers would normally react that way. But I am not exactly a real gamer to begin with so I guess my reaction to it is natural."

 

A surprise look crossed the man's features. "You don't play video games?"

 

"Well, do solitaire and mineswipe on the computer count?"

 

The man looked at Kotestu as though he grew another head.

 

"Does that mean that you have no idea what NerveGear is?" the man asked.

 

"I thought the game was called Sword Art or something?" was Kotestu's reply.

 

The man merely shook his head at the statement while still dawning an incredulous expression, thus making the veteran hero feel conscious about his decision to sign up for this thing. From how the man reacted, he obviously didn't belong here, _as usual._

 

"Sorry. I mean, I guess I wasn't really thinking when I signed up for testing this. I mean, I heard they needed someone to play a game and is able to understand and read Japanese and I thought, _hey, why not?_ I didn't actually thought I'd get selected. You must hate me for being here, I mean, I guess there are many others who are real players who might deserve this spot."

 

The old hero looked at his shoes, wishing in his head that he hadn't did this in the first place. It was a stupid decision. One he made on an impulse while he was feeling lonely when bunny left on a call for hero work during one of their _"unofficial dates"_. He was so caught up in his own musing that he didn't notice the man giving him a sympathetic expression. He only remembered the other man's presence when the said man placed his hand on his shoulder.

 

"Hey, don't look so down. I mean, sure you aren't a gamer, but that doesn't mean that you don't have a right to be here," the man said in a soothing expression, "You applied for the spot, and got selected. It was a fair thing. No need to feel bad over it or regret signing up. Besides, you were right. We did needed people who spoke English but understood and can read Japanese to help in testing the game. The reason for this is so that we could test if the translations for English that we did for the game worked right or if we needed to change some stuff, thus we wrote the ad the way we did. You don't really need to get depressed over it."

 

Kotetsu looked up to the man and stared at his eyes. He was surprised that they had a slightly metallic shade to it, but they looked at him in a kind and understanding way that eased his heart.

 

"Thanks," was all the veteran hero could say before a ding sound was heard by the two men indicated that they arrived at their intended floor.

 

The elevator's door opened and both were surprise to see that there was someone waiting for them on the other side, well at least they were waiting for the man beside Kotestu.

 

"Akihiko-san, thank god you are here! We have started the uploads for the game but we weren't sure on whether to use the Sternbild local account server of to create a dummy account for the testers or to connect it to our Japan branch. We did that in our Korean tester but as you remember there were some complains about the slow connection," the man who waited for them said.

 

Kotestu merely stared at his companion in shock, who immediate went on about how to solve the problem presented to him. It didn't take a genius for the old hero to piece together the fact that the guy he had been talking to was probably one of the big shots for the company he was in. 

 

It wasn't long before the man, assistant?, left his companion to most probably follow what he had been told to do. Meanwhile the man simply turned to face Kotestu.

 

"Sorry about that. It is never easy to do an out of the country launch of a game, especially since the said place where the game is being launched is known to have the said game's biggest investors. It's annoying really," the man said, "Well, I have to go and check if Kai-kun had done what I asked. It was nice meeting you, Mr.---?"

 

"Kaburagi. Kaburagi T. Kotestu," the hero said offering his hand.

 

The man took it and gave it a firm shake as he said, "Kayaba Akihiko."

 

They both let go before going their separate ways, where Akihiko followed the other man in a lab coat while Kotestu went to the room where the beta testers were asked to go.

 

"Don't let being a newbie bring you down. Good luck and have fun playing the game," was what the man said before finally leaving.

 

_Have fun playing the game._

 

It wasn't much of an advise but Kotestu took it to heart and found that he really did enjoy playing Sword Art Online.

 

TBC

 

 


	2. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kotetsu finds himself in a situation he had never been before. Turns out the guys who helped him out when he first got introduced to the game is a homicidal maniac and has decided to trap all 10,000 worldwide players of his new game inside it with a note that if they die in the game they die in real life. What's an old hero to do in this situation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter because I could not stop my muse.

They had just gotten off work, well, at least he had, since his partner was called for another photoshoot and a late night interview from a famous talk show, he simply told him that he would meet up with the other later at the younger man's apartment. After that conversation, Kotestu left Apollon Media in a rush.

 

He looked down at his watch and saw that it was nearly 4:20 pm and if he didn't hurry he would miss the server opening. After hailing a cab, he told the driver to drive faster towards the direction of his apartment. It only took an hour to before he finally reached his neighborhood, a record if you took into account how far Bronze stage was from his work place.

 

After paying driver, which was happy after receiving such a huge tip from him, Kotetsu ran to his place. He opened the door and hurriedly removed his shoes and tie before going straight to his bedroom. There he approached one of his bookshelves by the bed and pulled out a medium size rectangular box with the words: NerveGear engraved on the label. He opened the said box and pulled out a helmet-like object along with a cube-like box. He took the cube and pulled its plug and attached it to an outlet beside his bed.

 

Kotetsu then removed his shirt and got comfortable on his bed. He added more pillows on his back to add to his comfort before looking at his watched. He had estimated that he had 5 hours before bunny would call for him and ask him when he'd be arriving in his apartment.

 

A smile crossed his lips at the thought of his partner.

 

Despite all that has happened between them, Barnaby still tried everything within his power to make sure Kotestsu was still part of his life. From inviting the veteran hero to to his place and them having dinner and sharing a drink together, to letting Kotetsu join some of his photoshoots and interview gigs. Even letting him come with the younger hero during patrols in the city, which was a task the older one didn't have to do considering he was part of the second league, Barnaby tried to keep Kotetsu close.

 

It was both heartwarming and painful for the older man.

 

Heartwarming because he liked that bunny cared for him so much not to leave him in the dark. Painful because deep down he knew he was only holding his partner back. 

 

Don't get him wrong. He loved being a hero, even though he was part of the second league ones. Okay, that was a lie, he didn't really get joy in being part of the second league as much as he did when he was in the first league, but beggars can't be choosers and he had accepted this fact the moment he came back with his Hundred power down to a minute. Anyway, he didn't really mind being a second-rate hero, he just didn't liked the fact that most of the first-rate heroes, particularly his partner tried everything to get him to be part of them when he clearly is not. He didn't belong in the first league, he shouldn't be part of their actions, even though he did enjoy fighting bigger criminals when he got the chance, but Barnaby didn't deserve to be dragged down by him and be forced to lower himself just to be with his washed-up partner.

 

_It just wasn't fair._

 

That was why Kotetsu often did what he did tonight. Say no to his partner's invitations or any other invitations to do work together and come up with a whatever excuse he could come up that allowed him to do so. It has worked so well so far in the pass three months so he saw no reason to stop it. Sure, he was certain Barnaby would really get angry at him for it, but it wasn't like he was doing it for the purpose to hurt his friend. He was doing it to let his friend grow to be the great hero he knew he was. So he knew he would at least be forgiven for it.

 

_Besides, it was not like he totally left Barnaby's life._

 

He was still accepting the younger man's invites for dinner and still hang out with him during their day off. They still chatted when they were together and he still shared most of the happenings of his life and the life of his daughter to the man. He still made fun of him and still made the younger man laugh at his amazing (corny) jokes. He cooks for him, trains with him and even go out with him when the man feels like talking a walk in the park in the middle of the night. Over all, he is still pretty much part of bunny's life. Just not the hero part, but he was okay with that.

 

Shaking his mind off his thoughts of his partner, the hero decided to focus on the task on hand. Two months ago, he joined a beta testing of a new video game that was about to be released in Sternbild. It was called Sword Art Online. A new online game that used a new type of gaming experience called NerveGear, which enable players to enter their minds into the virtual world of the game and become the players of the the game themselves. 

 

It had first shock Kotetsu when he played it but he later found that he enjoyed the feeling of being in an alternate world, fighting off monsters and solving quests and altogether be an entirely different person, well not really too different, but he liked that no one really knew him in real life so he can act however he liked and not be judged by it. The game allowed him to forget all his problems in real life: like missing his daughter, his diminishing powers and sinking reputation, his rising star of a partner who doesn't want to leave him to go fulfill his own dreams and the other heroes, who continuously worry about him. The game became an escape for him and he really saw no harm in it. 

 

_It was only temporary_

 

That's what he always told himself. He would play the game, escape a few hours of the tiresome life he lived before coming back and living the said life. An unhealthy cycle, but he wasn't planning on stopping it anytime soon.

 

He picked up the helmet-like object and placed it on his head. Pressing the button on the side of head gear, he felt his mind be transported to the virtual world of the game.

 

(O.O)

 

A scream was heard as the last of the tentacle monsters were slain the small party of 3. A dark brown-haired swordsman sheathed his long katana. The wind blew on his shoulder-length hair on one direction all while he kept his eyes closed in concentration, thus adding to the cool-look effect that radiated from the man. He looked liked in his mid-thirties. He had a small faded goatee on his chin, wore a simple black turtleneck shirt coupled with a grey jacket, and brown fingerless gloves adorn his hands. There was dark blue chain-belt attached to his hips that served to hold his two swords. He looked liked a simple low level character based on the attire he was wearing, but his companions knew that he was simply wearing them just so he can help real newbies like them fit in the game.

 

He then turned to face his companions and gave them a goofy smile.

 

"You guys did great!!" he told them, "And earlier you were all so reluctant to team up with me because you said you were all still new to the game."

 

"We were only able to survive the game this long and finished that quest because of you, Tora-san," a blue-haired woman said. She wore a white button-up shirt with with brown leather straps on her chest and animal skin pants with a black hip belt were her Aurelian dagger hung loosely.

 

"Yeah, it is all thanks to you that we survived. You were a really great help Tora-san!" the other members of their party said. He was a large man with indigo hair, spiked up in the most unrealistic way. He wore slightly heavy armor that definitely did not fit his current character level.

 

He must be rich, since that was Tora's only explanation why the guy had the items he had. He could obviously purchase them with real Stern-currency.

 

"Naw, I didn't do much other than explain to you how to play the game," Tora told them humbly, "And showed you the ropes. You two did all the fighting and I simply assisted."  


 

"Whatever you say, Tora-san, we owe you. Hey! How about we exchange contact info so we can contact each other whenever we want!" the blue haired woman said.

 

"That's a great idea, Mikamika-chan!!" her companion said before turning to face Tora and ask for his contact number and added him to their friends list.

 

After the exchange, the two left to make their own journey while Tora said he was gonna fight more monsters thus the three went their separate ways.

 

Ones the two left, Tora opened his server link and looked at the time.

 

Dang! It was already seven in the morning. He totally missed his meeting with bunny. He had been playing nonstop for more than thirteen hours since he had been so engrossed in trying to help newbie players like those two all night. Damn him and his overly helpful tendency. He was sure to earn a glare from his partner for skipping out on him. 

 

Although, if he was honest, bunny hadn't called him thus could mean that the man had been too busy last night and decided to immediate rest after whatever publicity stunt he had been through. This then could give Kotetsu the excuse to say that he decided not to come and meet up with the younger hero. Shaking his mind and deciding to find an excuse once he was in the real world Kotetsu opened the main menu of his server but noticed something strange. Below the main menu, where the log-out button was suppose, Kotetsu saw that there was one missing icon.

 

"The hell?" he uttered noticing that there was no log-out button for the game. Immediately Kotetsu tried calling for the game master to report and inquire about this latest bug in the game. But no one was answering on the other line. A feeling of dread crossed the veteran hero's heart, but he shook it off to try and find a solution for his predicament. He was in the process of calling the game master again when he felt himself be teleported to a different location without his consent.

 

He was surprise when he found himself standing inside the shatter dome found in level one of the game. He looked around and saw that there were a lot of players who were there with him.

 

"Attention. players. I welcome you to my world," a man in a red cloak announce on a big screen above them. Kotetsu immediately recognized him as the game master.

 

A lot of the players immediately reacted to this new information and began wondering why the man was looking the way he did.

 

They didn't have to wait long for the man in the screen explained their situation.

 

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world. I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus -- the log out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how "Sword Art Online" was designed to be," the man said, "You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the "NerveGear" from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

 

Kotetsu couldn't believe his ears at this. Kayaba Akihiko. He was the kind man who talked to Kotetsu when he first appeared to beta test the game. He was also the guy who helped explain to him how NerveGear worked. This man and the man he met could not be the same person. He just couldn't fathom it.

 

"He's joking, right?" a young woman beside him said. The fear in her voice was quite adamant, making Kotetsu's hero instincts go wild that he wanted to comfort the other player.

 

"He's not. The transmitter's signals in the headgear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain," a man beside the woman stated, earning him a glare from the veteran hero.

 

_Can't he see that the woman doesn't need to know that?!?!_

 

"C-couldn't people just cut the power or ..?" the woman asked still dawning the fearful expression.

 

"That won't work. The NerveGear's got an internal battery," the man answered with a grim tone.

 

"This is crazy! It's totally crazy!" the woman said, tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.

  
"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world," Akihiko said.

 

"Two hundred thirteen?" this time Kotetsu could not help the horridied look from forming in his expression.  _This man killed two hundred and thirteen people?"_

 

"No way... I don't believe it!" the girl beside him screamed.

 

"As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever. And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is only one way for a player to escape now -- you must clear the game. Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

 

"That's impossible!" Kotetsu said. Even the most experienced beta testers he knew couldn't go beyond level 20, and he during his time as a tester could only reach level 8.

 

_This man was crazy. Not only had he killed more than two hundred people, he was planning to kill more of them by giving them an impossible task of clearing a game that was hard to defeat without dying yourself._

 

"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look," Kayaba said.

 

"A mirror?" Kotetsu asked as he stared at the object in his hand. A scream brought him out of his musing as he saw what the mirror had done to the other players of the game.

 

One by one, all the players in the dome turned into different people before his eyes.

 

"You a guy?!" he heard on player shout at his companion.

 

"And you're not seventeen!!" said another player.

 

He looked to the two people beside him and was surprised to find that the woman beside him turned out to be not a woman but a young girl, probably even younger than his own daughter. Kotetsu could no longer stop his protective instincts from taking control when he saw that the girl was downright crying when she saw the transformation that happened to everyone, including herself. An hand reached out to the her and pulled the frightened child into his arms. 

 

"Hey, hey, it will be alright," he whispered. This only made the girl cry harder.

 

"How is this possible? How on earth could he know what we looked like in real life?" the girl said in between sobs.

 

"The scan. There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear. It can see what our faces look like, but how it knows my height and body type, I am still not certain," the know-it-all man, who looked a couple of years younger than bunny and was a bit of the tall side and had curly dark hair and wore glasses, answered.

 

As much as Kotetsu was hating the man for his informative nature that was one of the source of the nightmares of the child in his arms, he could not help but answer the man's own question. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do this... calibration thing. It asked us to touch our bodies all over like this, remember?" he said.

  
"Oh, yeah, you're right," the man said, giving Kotestsu a once over look before looking back on the screen, a thoughtful expression dawning his face, "That's where it got our physical data!."

 

"But, this is... What's the point?! Why would anyone do this to us?!" the child in his arms screamed stand back up to yell at the man in the screen.  
  
  
"I think he's about to tell us," Kotetsu said, looking up to face the screen again.

 

"Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.

 

"Akihiko-san..." was all Kotetsu could say. He was confused, shock, hurt and most of all afraid of what was happening to him.  This man who had welcomed him in this wonderful virtual world was going to keep him and many others prisoners in this so-called paradise he created.

  
"As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck!" 

 

The screen disappeared and in that moment many people in the dome started panicking. Players started screaming and running exit the place. Pushing each other and even trampling on the players who fell on the ground. Normally, Kotetsu would try and calm the crowd, at his that was his hero instincts were telling him. But at the moment, his fatherly instincts were taking over him as he saw that the child beside him was experiencing the same panic as everyone was at the dome.

 

"This is not real. That man had to be lying! He can't do this to us! This was suppose to be just a fun game!" the little girl said looking fearfully at Kotetsu and the man beside her.

 

"It's not a game anymore. It's real. Kayaba Akihiko created a virtual world. He designed the NerveGear rig. The man's a genius! I've been a fan of his for a long time... so I know... everything he just said... is the truth! If we die in the game, we'll die in real life."  
  
  
"My god... No!" the girl fell on her knees and began to cry harder.

 

"Stop scaring her, would you?!" Kotetsu yelled at the man and gave him a hard shove before taking the little girl in his arms once again.

 

"I am not scaring her. I am simply telling the truth of things. There is no need to disillusioned her from the reality that she can die in this game," the man said in a sardonic voice.

 

If looks could kill then the man would be six feet under because of the glare the veteran hero sent his way. 

 

"Even so, you do not need to cause too much panic to an already frightened child, you heartless bastard!"

 

"Heartless or not, I still think that she needs to learn the gravity of the situation. As do you," the man said giving Kotetsu a pointed look.

 

"What do you--" he didn't get to finish as was pushed by one of the panicking players trying to escape the dome.

 

"We need to get out of here or we will be crush by these hysterical crowd," the man said, "It is too young in the game for us to die this way."

 

Kotetsu had no choice but to agree with the man. He can get angry at him later, for now they needed to leave the dome.

 

"I have a transporter stone. I can get all three of us out," he said before getting the said item from his inventory. He pointed the item at the three of them and a bright light was the only thing left that signified they had been in the area.

 

 

TBC

 

(O.O)

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is it for my second chapter. I hope I did this story justice so far. Thanks for reading.


	3. Partner's Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I have been finishing stuff for school. Anyway, finally posting an update and thankful that people read my stuff. I mean, considering this fandom isn't as popular as it first came out, I really prepped myself that people wouldn't be reading this story.. But I am happy people take time to read. Thanks you, everyone!

_He blamed himself._

 

Despite the insistence of all his friends and coworkers that he couldn't have known, he still felt  like there was something he could've done to prevent what happened to his partner.

 

_Kotetsu._

 

He didn't even know that the old man was among Kayaba's victims until three days had passed since the said lunatic had announced worldwide what he done to the players of his game. He, and all the other heroes, had been too busy trying to do damage control since a lot of the victims' families had decided to form a mob and attack the places were the game had been sold as well as the main office of where the game had been manufactured within the city. When he finally found time for himself, it was only then that he noticed that his partner hadn't shown himself throughout the entire chaos.

 

_He should've searched for him sooner._

 

He asked Doc Saitou first but the man hadn't seen his partner and even claimed that Kotetsu hadn't showed himself throughout the entire debacle. He then asked all the other heroes, even from the second league ones, as well as Hero TV's film crew, but he got the same reply and that was that they hadn't seen Tiger. It was then that he began to worry.

 

He called his partner's phone, as well as his landline, but it always switched to voicemail. He tried texting him. But he got no reply. His mind began to race to all the other possible scenarios that might've caused his partner's absence, and found that none of them were good.

 

His last option was to check his home as well as his partner's apartment, the last two places he knew Tiger had been before he went AWOL. He checked his apartment first but found no sign that his partner had even been there. Then he droved to Kotetsu's apartment and banged on the older man's door. His heart began to race, when no one answered. He would've left there to alert the others of the situation but something inside him told him to check the apartment first before doing so.

 

He searched his pockets before pulling out his key to his partner's apartment, it had been among the few amazing privileges he got from their sort of romantic relationship. He unlocked the door and entered his friend's home.

 

Upon first inspection, one would say that there was no one inside. But Barnaby was able to tell that his partner had been there before his disappearance because the lights in the kitchen and living room were on. Knowing his partner, the man would never leave his place with those two still on. The old man was quite strict in his ideals to save electricity when he can.

 

He called out again, but no one answeres, fear once again struck his heart as he continued to inspect the apartment. But he found no one. He finally decided to search his partner's bedroom, the last place where he hadn't checked, and felt his fast beating heart stop at the sight he saw.

 

_He finally found him. But inside he wished he hadn't._

 

There he was, Kotetsu, his partner, shirtless and was lying peacefully on the bed. The only reason he dawned a horrified expression was because he recognized the head gear the old man was wearing. He finally understood why the man had been missing in action for the pass few days. 

 

_He got him!_ He thought while referring to the mad creator of the game that seemed to be keeping his partner in a comatose state.

 

It had taken every ounce of his control not to rip the gear off the old man's head for he knew would happen if he did. He would've truly lose him for good.

 

Instead of doing so, he had taken out his phone from his pocket and dialed Doc Saitou's number and asked for his help. Thirty minutes later, the mechanic as well as a few medical personnel arrived at the apartment and helped transfer his partner to the hospital where all of Kayaba's victims were kept. The entire time he hadn't left his partner's side, not even to see Lloyds or do hero work.

 

He stayed vigilant to watch over Kotetsu. He couldn't bare to leave the older man's side fearing that he something might happen to his partner in his absence. It did not help ease his worries that every day more and more of Kayaba's victims inside the hospital died in their beds.

 

A month had passed and there was still no changes in his partner's condition. It was then that he feared for the worse and started thinking of many possible outcomes on what would happen should his partner really die. He didn't like any of those outcomes. He simply could not take any instance where his partner died. He knew he could not live should that day happen.

 

Sitting beside his partner's bedside, a hand tightly clasped on the sleeping man's hand, Barnaby Brooks Jr. prayed. He wasn't a man of faith but in that moment, he prayed to whatever god there was to save his partner.

 

"Please. Please don't take him away," he whispered, tears falling down his tightly closed eyes. "Kotetsu-san, please don't leave me. I can't--I can't live without you... I don't even want to know what that kind of future would be like. I just know that it is one that I don't want to be living in... So please... Please live through this, Kotetsu-san..."

 

He continued his tearful muttering not even noticing that someone had entered the room. It was only when that someone had spoken that he realized that he was not alone.

 

"He's not gonna die, Barnaby-san," the visitor stated, startling the blond hero.

 

Barnaby turned and saw hos partner's daughter standing by the door.

 

"Keade-chan, what are you doing here?" he asked.

 

It wasn't intended to sound rude, he knew the child deserved to be there with her father more than he was, but his last conversation with his partner's family had been two days ago, and they informed him that they had to return to Oriental Town because they simply couldn't stay too long in Sternbild for they all still had things to do back home. He had understood their reasoning and agree to care for Kotetsu until they returned the next weekend.

 

"I came to visit dad," was all the girl said and Barnaby left it at that. He knew he should asked the young teen about her school or how she came to Sternbild without anyone with her, but the blond hero opted to ignore those facts. He understood Kaede's reasoning and he wasn't gonna go against it. He would let her stay by her father's side, at least until he got a call from the girl's family in Oriental Town.

 

"What made you say that?" he asked, looking at the young girl who sat beside him.

 

"What? That dad wasn't gonna die? Barnaby-san, my dad is not the type of guy who would easily die, especially since he knows he'd be leaving the two of us sad if he did. He loves us too much to leave us," was the teen's firm reply.

 

And Barnaby could not help but agree with her. Kotetsu was indeed a stubborn man and he would not let some game kill him that easily. Plus knowing the old man, he'd be searching for ways to get out of the game himself. He was not the type to give up and for that Barnaby's worries faded away.

 

_He would survive this game and he would come back to us._

 

So until then, he would wait patiently for the man to wake up.

 

A beeping sound was then heard and both Keade and Barnaby's eyes immediately went to Barnaby's hero bracelet.

 

"I thought they would give you the time off to at least be with dad," the teen said, a frown maring her young face.

 

"I thought so too. I mean, I did tell them that I was taking the time off to watch over Tiger," Barnaby stated, looking irritated at the bracelet. 

 

"You gonna answer it?" Kaede asked him.

 

"I was planning not to, but knowing Mr. Lloyds or even Ms. Agnes, they would keep calling until I answered. So I might as well just answer and tell them not to call me unless it was a real emergency."

 

He pressed the start button on the bracelet and a small screen appeared before him with Doc Saitou.

 

"Barnaby-kun, I know you don't want to be disturbed, but I need you to come to NevaCorp right this instant, I think we found a way to see Tiger in the game," the chubby man said.

 

Barnaby immediately stood up, feeling alert after hearing this news. He looked at Kaede and saw a strong spark in the girl's eyes.

 

"Go. I'll watch over dad while you're gone," she told him, an encouraging smile graced her face.

 

Barnaby smiled in return, promising he would come back and tell her how her father was doing. He received a nod before he finally left the room and went to where the good doctor was.

 

The drive to NevaCorp wasn't really long. It kind of helped that Barnaby used his motorbike and drove at full speed to get there. Upon arriving, he was greeted by security, two heavily armed men straigth to the labs. The blonde didn't even batted on his unusual escort. He can understand the strict security the place added.

 

After the incident with Kayaba and his gamers getting stranded inside his game, a lot of the family of the victims blamed NevaCorp for what happened since it was obvious that the prime suspect couldn't be accounted for his crimes since he had decided to kill himself no sooner after the news of what he done was publicized. Anyway, the burnt of the people's hatred was unleased on the company and all its branches throughout Sternbild. It had been a miracle that no one was killed throughout the entire ordeal. 

 

The young hero arrived on the floor of the labs and found Doc Saitou standing in front of a big screen TV and was fiddling with some controls, beside him two more scientists were seen. After announcing his presence to the group he immediate asked about what he came to know.

 

"You said we can see how Kotetsu-san is doing inside the game?" he asked, "How do we do that?"

 

"We actually are in the process of doing just that, Mr. Brooks," one of the scientists with Saitou said.

 

"How were you able to find Kotetsu-san neural signatures within the game? I thought Kayaba made it impossible to do that since he transmitted all of the gamers' neural data at the same time inside his program thus making it impossibleto identify which person is which," Barnaby asked.

 

"Well, we have Doc Saitou for that," the other scientist said.

 

The pudgy doctor then gave his explanation.

 

"As you remember, Maverick planned on replacing Tiger at one point, not just with an armor hero but the real Kaburagi Kotetsu. We saw the blueprints on the creation of a body with hair and synthetic skin identical to our Tiger."

 

Barnaby shuddered at the memory. He was still thankful that Maverick did trashed the plan because God only knew how things would've went had his deranged mentor followed through with that plan. He was certain of one thing and that was that his Kotetsu wouldn't have survived in the end of it.

 

Shaking those thoughts away, Barnaby nodded his head to let the doctor continue with his explanation.

 

"Well, we know that he had gathered enough data on Tiger by studing his behavior and habits in and out of work, right?" Another nod from the blonde hero, the doctor continued. "Well, I was able to find the data they collected by studying H0-1's mainframe and I was able to create an algorithm that transformed those data into the same neural data they used in the game. With this, we were able to find a way to search Tiger's unique signature within the millions of nueral signatures within the game."

 

It was ingenuous and Barnaby could not help but admire the three scientist for what they were able to do. He could not help as well but feel a bit thankful to Maverick and his part in helping Kotetsu.

 

_At least his devious plan was put in a much better use._

 

"I found him!" one of the scientists exclaimed.

 

Everyone's attention immediately went to the big screen and stared in amazement and horror at the image they saw.

 

"What the fuck is that?!?" Barnaby yelled as he looked at the monster on the screen.

 

The monster was over three meters tall, muscular, covered in blue-grey fur. It had bloodthirsty, copper-red eyes. On its hands were a large bone axe and a leather shield that it was using to attack several men, which Barnaby assumed were players of the game. Behind the monster's waist was a meter and half long nōdachi weapon, the blonde hero could only hope that it didn't plan on using the thing anytime soon.

 

"Baka! Get back here!" a familiar voice resounded from the computer's speakers, "Using uncoordinated attacks aren't gonna work on that thing!"

 

It was obvious who the person who's eyes they were looking through were. Barnaby may not have heard his partner's voice in over a month but that didn't mean he had forgotten it. A smile graced his handsome face as he realized that his friend was alright. At least for now.

 

He turned to the scientists in the room and asked them what they can do to help his partner and to his dismay they replied in a grim tone.

 

"Nothing, Mr. Brooks. We can't do anything to help Mr. Tiger. We just found him and we haven't found a way to actually do anything with this discovery."

 

"You mean to say that you can't do anything to help and you are suggesting that I just watch as my partner fight and get killed by that thing?!" he asked angrily.

 

It wasn't their fault. He knew that, but Barnaby could not control the helplessness he was feeling as he stared at how the monster was killing his partner's companion. He wished that the old man would not do anything to get himself killed. But knowing his partner, he knew that there was no way that the veteran hero would simply stand by and let everyone get killed before his eyes. And thus he resorted to praying to whoevery deity that would listen to let his partner survive whatever stupid plan he would come up to save everyone with him.

 

**TBC**





End file.
